Hey everyone! I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to this story! I have been getting amazing reviews and tons of favorites and I have to say that this story is as much a joy to write as it is to get all the awesome feedback from its fans. I want to thank everyone who has been reviewing and favoriting and apologize for my extreme delay in updating. I'm in college and I hold a part time job at the same time. I also adopted a kitty. All in all, I've been pretty busy. Still, I thought I owed it to everyone to finally do some updating. I hopefully will be getting back to this faster in the future. Without further ado... the latest chapter (for now).
"You're a lot more involved this time" Sly commented as I zipped up my jacket and adjusted my sleeves. I turned and gave him a questioning look. "I mean, you're getting out in the field more."
"I guess I've figured out where my loyalties lie" I replied.
"Well, that's good" he said as if he didn't really know what else to say. "I'll be heading out soon to go deal with the bears. Do you want to join me?"
"And play with bears?" I asked in a tone that suggested he was crazy. "Sounds like fun" I added with a shrug before he could say anything.
"I changed my mind" I said as I saw the tiny hole we were supposed to climb through to get into the den.
"Don't wimp out now" he said as he knelt down to look into the hole.
"I'm not wimping out" I retorted.
"Then what are you?" he asked.
"Using common sense" I replied.
"It can't be that hard to steal some transmitters off some sleeping bears" he argued.
"Do you hear yourself when you speak?" I replied.
"All the time" he said and he disappeared into the cave.
I paced next to the hole for a moment, trying to be stubborn about it, but I knew that if I didn't at least go in there I would never hear the end of it. On my hands and knees I crawled into the cave behind Sly, who was just putting down his Binocucom and stood, brushing myself off. In a silent panic Sly was at my side, holding my hands from making any more noise. At first I glared at him but then I saw him wildly gesturing to the bear that was just in front of us. "Oh" I whispered so gently that it barely made a sound.
"We have to pickpocket the transmitters out of their mouths while they're yawning" Sly whispered softly in my ear. "I'll take the left, you take the right."
I nodded in response and watched as he leapt over the ice on the floor to land silently on the other side. Cracking the ice would probably alert the bears to our presence in the cave. It took a moment of looking around before the magnitude of what he had just asked of me hit me. Sticking one's hand in a bear's mouth was like asking to lose an arm. Sly was too far away to be argued with now, though, so I figured I would try my best to do what I could without losing any body parts. I turned to the right, now seeing that the entire floor was covered in ice in that direction. Damn raccoon knew what he was doing when he gave me this side. The only way around it was to rock climb the wall but the cave wall was pretty smooth and it wouldn't be easy.
I glared over at Sly, who was sitting nose-to-nose with a bear on the other side of the cave and I was a bit jealous at his bravery in this situation, or I envied his foolishness. With another brief glance around the cave I found that there was some sort of hook hanging from the ceiling and on the wall was a climbing hook. I didn't know why anyone would be climbing here but it was an option. Sizing up the jump I would have to take, I realized that the closest wall was the one the sleeping bear was right next to. I would have to jump over his body and then immediately jump from the wall to the hook. It wouldn't be easy but I was sure I could do it.
I knew I couldn't run, so I got as much speed as I could as quietly as possible and leapt. Terror and adrenaline flooded my veins as I thought that if the bear heard me he could wake up and kill me but as I hit the wall the impact of my feet was much quieter than I thought it would be and without hesitating I catapulted myself towards the hook hanging from the ceiling. Part of me was amazed that I had been able to grab it but I was even more amazed that it didn't snap under my sudden weight. I swung my legs, building up some momentum before letting go and letting the force of my swing carry me to the other side of the ice just before the sleeping bear that should have been my first.
When the bear yawned I cringed at the sight of the huge teeth, surely adequate for tearing me limb from limb, and I liked the idea of sticking my hand in there even less than before. I was okay at pick pocketing but this was insane. As I sat and contemplated what I was going to do I noticed that the bear was so peaceful when it slept and it made me wonder how any creature this powerful could ever be so peaceful. I squatted down and rested my elbow on my knee and my head in my hand and watched patiently for the bear to yawn again but it was taking forever. It seemed like forever until the next yawn came and when it did I reached out, willing to risk it all, but then Sly's cane shot out from beside me and stole the prize I was shooting for.
"Hey!" I whispered just loud enough to cause the bear to growl in his sleep and Sly placed a hand over my mouth before I could say any more. I huffed into his hand and pushed his arm away, gesturing for us to get out of there. He nodded and I went first followed closely by him.
When we both got out of the small tunnel Sly looked at me with a smirk and said "You know, the views around here are really something."
I realized quickly that he meant he had been staring at my ass in the tunnel and I glared at him. "Sly Cooper!" I said and I took a swing at him. I couldn't really be angry at him but the part of me that felt embarrassed was hoping to at least knock him in the snow.
He laughed as he ducked and quickly made his way over to a nearby pipe, leaping on it getting ready to climb. "I'll see you later!"
Before I could say a word he was gone and I couldn't help but smile about what had just happened. At least I knew he was paying attention to me.
Bentley suddenly appeared in my ear "Maya, Murray needs your help to get ready for the RC battle."
"Ok, I'm headed back" I said, knowing that it would be bad to get caught with Sly and it would probably just be bad to get caught anyway, though right now it wouldn't be the worst thing to be caught in the middle of killing Sly.
It wasn't long before I was pushing the door open to the safe house, walking in to Murray and Bentley hunched over the computer. As it seemed, Bentley was going over the plans one more time with Murray before anything was attempted.
"What's going on?" I asked the boys as I placed myself in the seat across from them.
"Murray and I have just conveniently realized that he's a hippo" said Bentley.
I blanched. The two of them should have had that worked out already. Murray looked pretty worried, and I could have yelled at them for having a poor plan but instead I took the calm road. "Look, there's got to be something we can use to disguise Murray" I said with a sigh. "This is going to sound terrible, but Bison does have a lot of stuffed animals… and not the teddy bear kind. I'd be willing to bet that he has a moose around somewhere that Murray could use as a disguise."
"That sounds terrible" Murray said.
'Thank you Captain Obvious' I thought to myself before turning to Bentley. "I think that I could find out if he has anything by asking around. It would be a lot easier for me to get that kind of information than it would be for any of you. While Sly is still working on setting up the array and getting the lumberjacking guide, I'll find the information that we need."
"Sounds like a plan" said Bentley.
"I'll radio in when I find something out. That way, you guys can get started without me if you need to. I have a feeling I'll have to talk to Bison about this directly" I replied.
"Do whatever you need to and I'll be waiting for your news" Bentley replied.
I nodded and found myself heading quickly out the door for the second time that day. There were now two problems. One was that I didn't know where Bison was at the moment. The other was how to phrase the question. Had I taken a sudden interest in cadavers? Perhaps I was interested in seeing his hunting prowess in the form of past kills and trophies. Maybe I just had a thing for dead animal skins? I sighed… hopefully it would come to me in the heat of the moment.
After about fifteen minutes of wandering, I realized that it would be easier to ask one of the guards where Bison was than to continue wandering. I flagged one of the moose guards by the river down and he came running over like his life depended on getting to me as quickly as possible.
"So where's the boss?" I asked as he finally reached me.
He took a moment to catch his breath before straightening up and replying. "Ma'am, Mister Bison took a group of lumberjacks out into the forest to collect some good choppin' logs for the lumberjack games."
"That's too bad" I replied. "I was interested in seeing his collection of trophies from his hunts. I wonder if he has any moose skins." The look I shot him was intended to scare the crap out of him.
"Unfortunately Ma'am, he keeps those in his private cabin and we're not allowed in. However, if you need to look at a moose, there's a stuffed moose head in the guard house. He keeps it there to keep us all in line" he replied nervously.
"Interesting" I said with a sly smile. "Would you be willing to show it to me?"
"If you want to see it, just go to the guard house" he said. I detected a hint of fear in his voice as if he wanted nothing to do with it. "It's on the upper platform inside of the building."
"I suppose I'll go take a look for myself" I said, not feeling up to the fight that was coming if I were to try to persuade him to come with me.
I walked over to the guard house and let myself inside. There seemed to be minor panic before they realized who was there and put down their weapons. I looked around the room to find the object that I'd been told about and as he said it was on an elevated platform in the middle of the building that looked a lot like a lookout inside of the building. There were tables up there and one guard. For Sly it would probably be an easy steal. I walked into a corner where the guards couldn't hear me over their idle chatter and pulled out a small transceiver from my pocket, putting it in my ear. "Bentley, you there?" I asked.
"That was quick" he replied.
"Yeah, it turns out there's an old stuffed moose head here in the guard house" I replied. "It's on the upper level lookout inside of the building. The guard who told me about it said it was a reminder that they should listen to Bison. Should be an easy steal for Sly. Is he ready to go yet?"
"Stand clear Sly" he replied, but I soon noticed that he was talking to Sly at the time that I had radioed in. "Something else is coming out of the deep freeze." Suddenly there was a trumpeting noise that reminded me of the elephants in India and the ground shook.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I've never seen such a majestic creature." Bentley said, excitement in his voice. "So full of life, so ready to live… so much for that. He's back in the deep freeze."
"Cheer up, Pal, we got the log chopping guide" Sly said, trying to console him.
"Someone want to clue me in here?" I asked.
"There was a mammoth in the ice with the log chopping guide" Sly explained. I didn't realize I was now connected to him as well. "We melted it out and it came back to life just long enough to fall in the water and freeze back up again."
"Oh" I said. I didn't really know how to respond to that. "Sly, how long until you can rendezvous at the guard house?"
"I have to take the book back to the safe house" he said. "I figure about ten minutes."
"Sounds good" I replied. "I'll see you when you get here. Don't forget Murray."
"I won't" he replied.
While I waited, I pulled out my Binocucom and took a few hip shots with the camera, as to not draw too much attention to myself. I hit the combination of buttons that I knew would send those pictures to Bentley and quickly stashed away the device. "You shoot well from the hip" Bentley said over the com.
"Thanks. I didn't know if that would work out or not" I replied. "I'm going to get out of this corner now before they start wondering what I'm doing over here."
"Good idea" he replied. I walked over and leaned up on a wooden beam near the center of the room. The guards seemed to acknowledge my presence but they didn't seem overly concerned with me.
"Just here for the combat club" I said to dismiss my strange presence there. It was several minutes later when Bentley finally contacted me again.
"Maya! Murray and Sly are headed in. They should be entering the building soon. We need you to create a distraction so no one notices them as they come in" he said.
'A distraction!?' I thought to myself in a bit of a panic. What the hell was I supposed to do? My eyes landed on a bottle of vodka on the table in the middle of the room and the first thing that came to mind was what I did. "Hey, guys!" I shouted suddenly and they all looked at me. I walked over to the bottle and picked it up. "Who wants to place bets on how many shots I can take?"
There was a sudden excitement in the air as the men began to put up money on the table in front of me and shout out numbers. The highest I heard was 10. It had been a long time since I had any alcohol at all, so I didn't know for sure what I could do.
"So, 10 is the highest you guys will go?" I asked with a grin. There was a cheer in response. "Well, I'll place my bets on 12 or more" I said with confidence and I pulled some money out of my pocket and slapped it down on the pile.
The room seemed to go quiet for a moment before one of them yelled out "Well, get the shot glasses!"
Before I knew it, there were 15 glasses lined up on the table in front of me. It was now occurring to me how stupid of an idea this was, but all of their attention was focused on me so it was what I needed to do. They pulled up a chair for me and I sat down, taking the first glass in my hand and downing it in one shot. There was a burning in my throat but I ignored it. I set the glass down upside down on the table and took a breath. One down, 14 to go… if I even made it there.
It was around drink 3 that I saw Murray come in and hide in a barrel. Sly came in shortly after him and looked around the room, quickly getting to work. I started to feel the effect of the alcohol around drink 7, but I fought back with everything I had mostly because I couldn't let myself be disgraced by failing at a bet that I'd made. Sly probably gave the moose head to Murray around drink 11, and by then I was too far gone to really see anywhere past the shot glass in my hand. I began to feel extremely ill, but I kept going and soon all the glasses were empty and overturned. A sense of triumph filled me and I stood up with a wobble in my step.
"Thank ya boys" I slurred a bit as I collected my winnings and made for the door. I had enough sense in me yet to walk without seeming too drunk, but I knew that I was toasted. "I think I'll turn in for the night" I added as I walked to the door and then made a quick and somewhat smooth exit.
Once the door closed behind me, Sly was at my side. "Hey there, furball" I greeted him. I let down all the guards I had up against looking like an idiot and started off at an extreme wobble in the direction of the safe house. I just wanted to lie down.
"Are you drunk?" he asked.
"Are you a raccoon?" I asked in reply, suddenly actually feeling as if I didn't know what he was and grabbing his tail to inspect it.
"You are definitely drunk" he said.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Zebra" I said and then when I took my next step away from him my leg gave out and I fell backwards. Lucky for me, he was there to catch me.
"Ok, you're coming with me" he said.
"Officer, I swear to drunk I'm not God" I replied.
He scooped me off of the ground and into his arms, and I didn't have the energy to fight back. I nearly passed out a couple of times before we made it back to the safe house and he dragged me inside. He took me to the room with my bed in it and as he laid me down I tugged on his collar and said "Sly, did you see it? I flew all the way back here. My feet never touched the ground."
"Well, little bird girl, I think you should sleep this off" he said as he removed my hands from his collar and pulled my covers over me.
"But Daddy, what if the rhino man comes in my sleep?" I asked innocently.
"I'll be right here" Sly said with a chuckle. I tried to focus on his words, but it wasn't long before I passed out.
When I woke up again it was dark in the room but my head felt like it had been split open. I groaned and moved my arm over my eyes.
"Rise and shine, Princess" I heard Sly say from next to me and I uncovered my eyes and looked to find that he was holding out a couple of pills and a glass of water. "We've got to hurry up and get a head start on the plans before the games start."
"Just kill me" I muttered as I took the pills from Sly's hand and swallowed them while downing the entire glass of water.
"Bentley is giving the briefing right now, so we have to get going" he said as he took my hand and pulled me onto my feet. I felt like crap but now that my head was clear of everything but pain I realized he was right. Recovery could be done later, now was the time to win ourselves some lumberjack games. We moved into the main room and took a seat at the table where once again Bentley had the projector set up.
"Now that we're all here, let's get started" Bentley said, flipping to the first slide. I closed my eyes to listen, as the light was hurting them, and Bentley began to lay the whole thing out for us. "After reading through the log chopping guide it's become painfully clear that to win in the lumberjack games, we'll have to cheat. Now I've constructed a plan that hinges around us acquiring an eagle's egg which is more difficult than you think. First, Murray needs to lure a bear into taking out the local oil mains. Once destroyed, the pressurized oil should ignite and create updrafts which Sly will then use to paraglide over to the eagle's nest, grab an egg, and then head back to the safe house. Maya, during the operation you'll be with me, both as backup and body guard. If needed, we figured we could trust you to take part in the games as well. Thanks to Murray's undercover work in the RC combat club, we've learned that the northern light battery is hidden in a silo nearby. The battery needs some serious modification if we're going to hide inside it to sneak onto Arpeggio's blimp. First, we'll short the battery with grapple lines on local boats. Then, we'll all break into the lighthouse and sever the power flow to the battery, that way it won't recharge. Given my electrical engineering background, this plan has a 97% chance of success. Pretty good, huh?"
There were nods from Murray and Sly. 97% didn't sound certain enough for me, but there was really no other way to do this. I opened my eyes and saw that all the boys were now looking at me.
"Well" I said, noticing the attention in the room trained on my decision. "Let's get going."